Space telegraphy.



Patented July 19, 191.0.

5 SHEETS-*SHEET 1.

C, D. BABCOGK.

SPACE TBLEGRAPHY. nrmcmrlox Hman JULY 1v, 19'0'1.

C. D. BABGOCK. SPAUE TELEGRAPHY.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 17, 1907.

Patented July 19, 1910.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3- c. D. 343000K. SPACE yTBLEGBAPHY.4 APPLICATION ILED JULY 17, 1907.

' Patented Ju1y19, 1910.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

y o. D, B11300011.

` SPACE TBLBGRAPHY.

APPLIQATIO-N FILED JULY 17, 1907'.

'Patented July 19,1910.

ample, the transnnssion of power, electrical nnrrnn sTATEs rnrnnronnron.

To all whom 'it may concem: -Be it known that I, CLIFFORD D. BAnoooK, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of NewYork, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Space Telegraphy, of which the following is a specifica-tion.

My invention relates to a paratus for de- 1o veloping high frequency elisctrical oscilla` tions for the telegijapllic or telephonie trans` mission of intelligence by electromagnetic' M waves or for any other purposes for which such oscillations may be useful as,

tem.

dissociation ot gases, etc.; and more to an apparatus for developing'elec- 'trical oscillations of high power.

The objectof my invention 'is to provide an `oscillation producer in which the sound "of the electrical discharge may be'mutlled and free ventilation provided for the spark gap, and .by which any desired high and uniformspark frequency lnay be obtained While, at the same time 'preserving the constants of the-spar "-z. e., its breakdown point and its point of cessation, thereby obtaining a constantand regular spark frequency and increasing the energy of radiation.

` 'Other objects ot' my invention will hereinafter appear and 'fill be more fully set.. forth shown 3s comprises spark-electrodes, one or both, of l' present instance the electrodes are shown in at any desrncd speed, F lgs. 1 and 4 as consisting of two turbines which may be rota-ted a source of electrical energy for creatinga discharge between said electrodes, a source of gas, which-maybe air or any other suit-g able gas, under pressurefand means for .creating a sudden fiow of said gas under pressure across the gap between said elec@ trodes during. the Vtime of said discharge. The drawings which accompany and form 'elect-ro by the as-anplied tov d although it will" od that the utility of my invenion is not limited to space telegraphy and vthatfsaid invention may be employed for electrical-oscillations.for any use- '17, 19 gifimrpose. ofthe In' the drawings .Figure 1' represents Y., ASSIGNOR, T0

Specification ofLette'rs Patent. Applikation fued J'uiy 17, 1907. serial No. 384,224.

Onda'ry I2 trode 17 adj ustably connected to SPACE. TELEs'RArHY.

Patented Jiuy 1a, loro.;

trat-ing one embodimentof my invention api plied to, a space telegraph transmitting sys- Fig. -1x 1s a section on line a-a of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow. Figs. 2,-3, 4 and 5 space telegraph systems similar to Fig. 14 and illustrating modifications of theappara- .this and circuits shown in Fi l.

In the figures, energy herein shown as an alternating current generator.

are representations of 6o GQ is a suitable source of is' a transformer, preferably of the' step-11 ty e L i for ex,- l', ap d and second former M.

A A is an antenna portion of the linductance L.

2' respectivelyy are the primary eartlied at E through a a condenser.

K tis a key. 75

a spring contact the back contact of the key B is a source of electrical energy, herein coperati'ng with as a battery.

In Figs. 1,. 2, Bland 5|, 14 represents a ves- 80 selor casingliaving an air tight c over 15. The conducting property of the vessel 14 may be opposite to that ofthe cover l5 and, as shown, the vessel material' and the cover of insulating mate- 85 Spark electrodes of anyvsuitable construction maybe inclosed within said vessel is made of conducting and connected with a source of electrical With these 'obyectsm view my invention l ener-gy and an osclllatlon circuit.

ln the consisting of one turbine and'its nozzles, although as shown in Fig. 2, both electrodes may be statioi 1.the turbines land 17 are spa1k oints 18 and 19 respectivelyl ary. In Fig. provided. with 05 he e 16,- 18, isv connected with thlhs c-x bythe lead l), c, c, and the elec- 19- is connected to said secondary lead terminating at the binding post 100 which' is .1n .conductive connection with 'said .electrode 17, 19, the casing 14.

through the metal" of he electijode 16, 18 may be' apoint on the inductance L by theylea'd e, c, and the electrode 10.5

with one terminal condenser C by the lead terminatin binding post d.' hen so connectev I' .partly-iii diagram andl partly 1n section .one the condenser may discharge across the ga -etween said electmdesjvhenthe potential 11o a-zy windings of the transf i 35 stant clearing out o ticles torn olf the electrodes and the ex- 55 of time.'

to which the condenser is charged is sufiicient to break down the dielectric between the electrodes', and thereby create oscillations inthe oscillation circuit 19 tl C L c e 18.

. It will'sutiice in systems employing small amounts bf .power y'to use .spark-electrodes consisting of stationary-metallic bodies, generally spherical in form, but when large- 'ainounts of power are employed, as in long 4 1o distance` space telegraph systems, many difficulties arise which prevent the use of such simpledischarger and which require the emloyment of more elaborateappa'ratus. One. of these difficulties consists in the creatioii of an electric arc in the spark-gap which tends' to short-circuit the .prime source of .f encrgyand thereby revent the charging of the condenser to its ull capacity, and which renders su'ch sparking .as does take place 2o irregular in action. In such high power systems, it is' necessary also to employ means vfor mutiling the sound of thel spark and at the same time to lprovide for the renewal of the'atniosphere in which said s ark takes "25 place. yI Vam awa-re that it has een proposed to employ mutilers for spark gaps, to

create the'spark inan' atmos here of com' pressed gas and to employ s owly rotatingspheres as spark-electrodes; but so far as I 3o am' aware it novel to`createthe l spark in a muierhaving a .constantly circulating atmosphere of gas under high pressure, whereby thev insulation ofthe gap may be maintained at a -high point owing to the conminute metallic parpulsion'of the vitiated gas;- andfto provide sudden and excessive'exacerbations of said gas under high pressure during the time of the production of the spark, whereby arcing ,across the electrodes may be prevented.

y While of course the means hereinafter de.- scribed `for creating a spark in a muiiier having a constantly circulating atmosphere of gasunder high pressure'and for creating a`sudden inrush of'such gas v'during the sparking periods may be employed in con- .nectionwithany type of spark electrodes, I prefer as' shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 5 to socmp'loy'said means" with electrodes one or.

so more fully disclosing myinvention, but not with the intention of limiting myself to such apparatus. For'this purpose, referring to Fig.1, 4 represents any suitable type of air or gas compressor, the inlet pipe 5 of which es may be provided with a screen 6 forremov- Q v y '965,066

ing any Aforeign matter from theair or gas which is drawninto the compressor; 1 repi resents a reservoir conncctedwith saidcomvpressor bythe pipe 4 and provided with aA drain-pipe 3 and a pressure gage 2.V The` operationv of the compressor maybe controlled by any matic devices tor maintainingthe gas in the' reservoir at a constant high-pressure. -The lime,calcium carbid, or any other suitable desicc'ating aubstance, may be inserted beofthe well known autovdesiccating chamber 8 containing 4unslaked 75 .tweenthefbutlet pipe 4"" of the ,reservoir 'l and the pipe, 8' which leads into the muiiling y l chamber 1st,'. #15.

9, 9 are'piessure'regulating valves herein- 'shown as electromagnetically pperated. In

the present instance, the energization ofthe coils of the electro-magnets 10, 10 causes the 'partial rotation of the armatures 11, 11.

against the tension f V'thesprings .which hold said armatures against the stops 12, 12f

respectively', the movement of the armatures being limited bythe stops 13, 13. As shown in Fig. 1, conventionally, the armatures 11,

11 are connected with and operate the valves 9 9. Suchde-vices are well known and needA not be further described. z

While the valves 9 9 may be set so as to close the passages 8, 26 .until the closure of the primary power circuit or sliortlybefore suchclosure, I refer to set said valvesso that a constantpcircula'tion of gas under high` pressure is maintained in the mutiler. For instance, Ythe valve 9. may normally be slightly 'open and the valve 9 may normally be opened to a greater degree, so that a pressure of, say, seventy pounds-per square inch is maintained in the muilcr. Then in the I present instance. by the closure of the circuit of the battery B by the coperation of the back contact of the key K with the spring c, the valves 9 9 will be simultane# ously opened thereby permitting a sudden and excessive inrush of4 air or gas into the muffler.. For example, it the pressure in the reservoir is maintained at 114.25 pounds per square inch the effective pressure in the inutiler will be 44.25 pounds per sq'hare inch when theprcssure in vthe mutlier is lthat above set forth, and lsuch effective pressure will prevent any arcing that otherwise might take place in the gap while at the same time preservin' the constants of the spark and causing t esame to start and 'stop much more suddenly than otherwise. By Avirtue c of the vuuintenance of the-relatively high 'gas pressure in the muler, thedielectric strength of thespark-gap is increased and the lventilation caused -by the above 'mentioned circulation still further maintains such dielectric strengthvby reducing the heat' dissipation in the muilier. It will be obvious -from. the foregoing that the valve 9 may be omitted. For the purpose o'still further ispo preventing arcing vvnerelarge 'amounts of ener are employed, as well as for. increasing t ie spark-frequency ofthe electrical oscillati'ons, I prefer to employ, with the apparatus above described, sparkelectrodes,

A one or both of which may be rotated. One

example of such rotating electrodes is shown' in Fig. 1, in which 16, 17 represent turbines operated by the compressedgas passing through the oppositely-directed` jets 20, 21,

' whereby the turbines are caused to rotate .in opposite directions at any desired speed. Thuslfoi example if the pressure maintained in' the inutiler is 70 pounds per'square inch and that maintained. in the reservoir is 114.25 pounds per square inch, so that the effective pressure attlie jets is 44.25 pounds per square inch, therewill be obtained with .ften inch disk turbines la. speed of approximately V1326 revolutions per second, the

vvelocity ot' inrush of air' into a vacuum, A equal to an eti'ective air pressureof 14.75

pounds per square inch, being taken as 1151 feet per second. Each disk 1G, 17 may` carry as many spark-points of any desire shape as desired. andif, as shown in Fig. 1, one disk carries twenty points andthe other` a single point we should get a spark frequency of about 20000 per second, provided the di'sk 1i' carrying said single point` were stationary, and a. spark frequency of about 52,000

'yif saiddisk 17 rotates at the saine speed "sists of a lbar of any suitable material at-,

taclied to the stein 2l which may be pushed through the wall of the casing 1-t until said bar is in the space between the points 1S. l0', and then turned by the handle as iiidi.

cated in Fig. 1, so that the points 1S pass over the' upper sideof the wiper and tti-,ejpoiut o'i'l points .ltpasses under the lows-,if -s'ide Hiermit-,until the surfaces of said points arc-cleaned, \\'hcreu`pon the stein 24 may he ,\\'itl'idra\\'n to thc'positionshown in Figli I'n 'Fig'. 2 I have shown a,ii'iodificatioii, iiiwhich as in Fig. '1, the pressure of the gas in the reservoir (not shown biitcoiiiiected to the inlet )i ie S" as in Fie. l is mainl l is tallied higher than iii the inutiier.. the alitlei ence iii pressure depending u'poii the setting of the valve 5). By this arrangement l may obtain a spark in a gas underrelatively high pressure. while the difference in the pressure maintained in the reservoir and iii .the mut'tler insures the ventilation of the latter.

vOne electrode may be theend 27 .of the inlet pipe 8 .and Vthe other,- a disk 29 maintained at an angle other than- 90 degiees -with the stem29 `Whichlis manually.y rotatable by means ofthefhead28 for adjustingl the length of the gap. In Fig. 2, as in Figs. 3. 4 and 5, X X represent the electromagnetic actuating devices forthe valves 9. 9 -whicli are shownin detail in Fig 1 at 10, 11, 12, is. i

In Fig. 3, theA inlet 8 is'branched into two pipes 31, 32` Aterminating into horizontally adjustablejets 33, 34, respectively, which are directed soas to mutually assist in the rotation of the .turbine 30, the Yanes of said vturbine and saidv jets constituting the spark electrodes. In this case the spark-gap will `be a multiple gap.

In Fig'. 4. I have shown a 4further moditication'iii which the disks 38, 39 are driven inthe same directions-i. e., both clockwise or both counter-clockwise'so that the spark points 40, 41 pass each other at the .point S in opposite direciio'iis at a. high rate. In this figure, the casing 36 may be of insulating material and the'covcij 37 of conductingI or other material, as shown.- c, e" represent `the points of connection of the electrodes 39, 41 and 38, 40 with the` secondary of the transformer M and with the oscillation circuit. i

Fig- 5 Shows another modification in vwhich a re iilsion motor 42 is employed' as a rotating e ectrode for the spark-gap, 'of which the other electrode is shown aslthe normally stationary, and' adjustable rod 43.

It will be observed that in all the forms illustrated, upon the closing ot' tliekey .Kaa sudden increase i'ii pressure.v and therefore of the dielectric'strength, is produced between the electrodes, and simultaneously a sudden rotative impulse is imparted to' the.

movable element. or elements, which adds to the effect of the increase in pressure in producing a sharp. and well-defined s iai'k so essential to an efficient ajiparatus o this nature. 1

It willbe obviousfthat the apparatus and circuits herei'i'ibefoie specifically described may be subjected to a wide range of variation without departing from the principle of my invention. 4

I claim: f

1. In an oscillation producer, a vessel; electrodes, one of which is provided with a plurality of'poiiits, in said vessel, and one of which is n'iovable'relative to the other; a sourceof gas ,under pressure; means for `producing an` electrical disehargebetween said electrodcsand automatic means for creating a suddenl lilowv of said gas under pressure. into said vessel during said eleotrica-l discharge, and simultaneously imparting motion to said movable electrode, substantially as described.

'4., y n k965,060

' tromotivel force, from said -source to -said 3. In an oscillation producer, a vessel provided with a movable spark-gap, and inea-ns for creating a'sudden inrusli of gas under pressure across said gap during the discharg-- ing periods thereof, and simultaneously' impaiting motion to one .of the members -of saidgap.

' 4. In an oscillation producer,l a vessel pro vided with a moving spark-gap, a source oi gas under pressure, means connecting said source with said vessel,*a'source' of electrical .energy for said sparliap, and means whereby a'sidden inrush o said gas under pres` sure into said'vesselfis created when said gap tis -energized,'and.,motion is simultaneously imparted to said gap.

-5. vIn an oscillation producer, a vessel provided ivithamoving s ark-gap, a source of gas under .pressure a apted to move said lgap,a-pipe connectingsaid source with saidv vessel, .a source of electrical energy` for said spark-gap, an electrically operated 'valve vin said pipe, and` means for operating said valve during :theenergization of said gap.

6. In an oscillation producer, a vessel provided .with .a moving spark-gap, a source of gas vunder pressure adapted to 4move said gap, a pipe Aconnecting said source with `said vessel, a source o'felectrical energy for said spark-gap, an outlet pipe for said vessel, an

electrically operated valve Vin said outletipe, and means for operating said valve ilu'ring the energization of said gap.

a spark electrode consisting of a turbine wheel, adapted to Vreceive air under pressiire while constituting oiieterminal of a spark' 7. In an oscillation producer, two electrodes, andautoniatic means for rotating and simultaneously increasing the dielectric strength between the saine during the period 'of discharge, substantially as described.

8. In an oscillation producer, two elect-rodes; aplurality of .spark points onone of said electrodes; and means for rotating -said electrodes and simultaneouslyl increasing the strength of the dielectric between:

the saine during the discharge, substantially as described.

9. An oscillation producer provided with gap; andmeans to deliver lsaid airto said electrodes, substantially as described. 6i

10. In an oscillation producer, two spark electrodes, each consisting of a turbine wheel, 0 adapted to receive air under pressure while the spark `is passing and means to deliverl said air to said electrodes,substantially as 6 described.

11. In an oscillation.producer,-tvvo spark electrodes, each consisting oa turbine Wheel,, and means for' rotating the same in opposite directions.

19.. In anl oscillation producer, a vessel, two electrodes, eacli'consisting of a .turbine wheel, a 'source'of gas under pressure, a source of velectrical energy for said electrodes, and means for creating a sudden in- 7 rush of said gas 1n said vessel and against. Y

said turbine during the a plication of said electrical energyto saide ectrodes.

13. In an oscillation producer, spark-electrodes consisting of turbine wheels, each f adapted to receive air under pressure while the s ark is passing; means for rotating one of said electrodes, means for delivering air ,theretoand means located between said electrodes for cleaning the surface thereo 1 durinor rotation. lLlIn an oscillation producer, a casing; spark-electrodes in said casing; means for rotating the same; and means located partly` in and partly outside of said 'casing for i cleaning the surfaces of saidelectrodes during rotation, said last mentioned means com'- prising a handle, a stem projecting through the casing, and. ay wiper of insulating material adapted to be rotated by said stem and brought into contact with said electrodes,

substantially as described. A

15. In a wirelessv telegraphtransmitter the combination of two disks, means for rapidly rotating the disks in op osite direc-- tions, studs on the adjacent aces of the disks, and an oscillationicircuit connected to the disks.

16. Ina wireless telegraph transmitter the combination of two parallel disks; means for rapidly rotating the disks in opposite directions, 'studs on the adjacent faces of the disks, and an oscillation circuit connected to the disks.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto sugcribed my naine this 2nd day of July 19 l CLIFFCRD DIBABCOCK.

" Tiros. MCGRATH,

'Lii'ri'ria M. HODGIN'S 

